Measure includes full-year appropriation for Defense, which Senate Democrats are expected to reject; funding for Community Health Centers, Medicare 'extenders'

House Republicans on February 5, 2018, introduced a continuing resolution, or "CR" (H.J. Res. 128) that would keep the government operating through March 23. The bill notably includes a full year of funding above fiscal 2017 levels for the Defense Department, as well as two years of funding for community health centers (CHCs) and numerous other health provisions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including funding for several expired Medicare programs. The funding for CHCs is retrospective, covering fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018.

Attached with this alert please find a PDF of a staff summary of the H.J. Res. 128 from the House Appropriations Committee (2 pages), as well as a press release from the House Energy and Commerce Committee describing the CR's health provisions, which is also posted here.

Under the previous stopgap spending bill, funding for the federal government will expire at midnight on Thursday, February 8. "This CR will allow for additional time for a deal to be reached on top-line spending levels for this fiscal year," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) said in a statement. "Once this agreement is made, my committee will rapidly go to work with the Senate to complete the final legislation."

In a bid to recruit votes from House conservatives, the measure would provide $659.2 billion to fully fund the Department of Defense through the end of fiscal 2018 while keeping the rest of the government funded on a stopgap basis. That strategy that is likely to be rejected by Senate Democrats, who, like their House counterparts, have insisted that any plan to lift sequester limits placed on defense spending imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act must also include similar treatment, or "parity," for non-defense spending. Leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus on Monday night said their members would support the House bill.

In remarks on the Senate floor earlier Monday, Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) said that if House Republicans pursued such a "cromnibus" approach, "there's no way we'll reach an agreement that can pass the Senate." House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told Roll Call newspaper tonight that leaders would urge House Democrats to vote against the measure: Beyond defense, "every agency of government is devastated by the failure to have the opportunity to plan, to apply money to enter into contracts, to hire people," Hoyer said.

Presuming House passage of the CR, the Senate could alter parts of the bill, including its favorable treatment of defense spending, and send it back to the House. This would require House GOP leaders to address the Senate changes before the Thursday night deadline. House Democrats are scheduled to attend a retreat in Cambridge, Md., from Wednesday through Friday (February 7-9).

Health provisions

The bill's health items are described in a press release from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the attached Appropriations Committee summary. Some of the key provisions include:

— Two years of funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers (Community Health Centers), covering fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018

— Permanent repeal of the Medicare payment cap for therapy services, permanent removal of the Medicare rental cap for speech generating devices, and permanent extension of Special Needs Plans in Medicare Advantage

— A provision eliminating $5 billion in reductions to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) set for fiscal 2018 and 2019 under the Affordable Care Act

— A five-year extension of the Home Health rural add-on payment, along with ground ambulance add-ons

— A two-year extension of other public health programs including funding for the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education

— A number of other Medicare policies passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee, including the CHRONIC Care Act and The Part B Improvement Act

— Offsets for the bill include several modifications to provider payments and other spending policies in Medicare and Medicaid

Other provisions in H.J. Res. 128 include:

— Authorization for the Energy Secretary to draw down and makes sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)

— $225 million for the Small Business Administration to issue disaster recovery loans in areas affected by the 2017 natural disasters

— $51 million "to avoid delays in preparation for the 2020 Census," according to the summary

———————————————

———————————————
ATTACHMENTS

Funding bill press release

Summary of CR